Professor Giuseppina D’Agostino joined the Osgoode Hall Law School faculty in 2006 and brings creativity and passion to her role as Founder and Director of IP Osgoode, the Intellectual Property Law and Technology Program at Osgoode. She is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the IPilogue (www.iposgoode.ca), the first IP law blog of its kind, and Founder and Director of Osgoode’s IP Intensive and the Innovation Clinic.Before her appointment at Osgoode, she was recruited by the federal government’s Recruitment of Policy Leaders (RPL) program for the Department of Canadian Heritage and worked at the Copyright Policy Branch. She completed her doctoral and masters studies with distinction at the University of Oxford where she was a Lecturer in Law and the recipient of various scholarships including a SSHRC fellowship. She is the Deputy Editor for the Intellectual Property Journal (IPJ) and previously was an associate at a large firm in Toronto.Her research interests in the intellectual property law field are wide-ranging and she is highly sought after as a public speaker and consultant. She is a cited authority at the Supreme Court of Canada and is regularly called on by foreign and Canadian federal and provincial governments for advice. In December 2010 she testified before Parliament’s Legislative Committee on Canada’s ongoing copyright reform initiatives. She publishes on a range of issues and her two books, Copyright, Contract, Creators: New Media, New Rules (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 2010), and The Common Law of Intellectual Property: Essays in Honour of Professor David Vaver (edited with Catherine Ng and Lionel Bently) (Oxford: Hart Publishing 2010) are widely available. In 2011, the Italian Chamber of Commerce of Ontario honoured Professor D’Agostino as one of 34 Canadians in the book The Next Generation, Made in Canada: The Italian Way. In 2012, she was awarded two SSHRC grants for her work, “Triggering Innovation: Transnational Partnership for the Mobilization of Intellectual Property Policy and Practices” and “Fostering Innovation in Canada through Intellectual Property Law.” Professor D’Agostino is currently working with Professor David Vaver on the second edition of Copyright Law published by Irwin Law.For the 2013-2014 academic year, Professor D’Agostino is on sabbatical and is a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University.

Should you be interested in working with Professor D’Agostino on any of her research projects please feel free to get in touch with Michelle Li, Assistant Director, IP Osgoode at mli@osgoode.yorku.ca.

Carys Craig has been a member of the Osgoode faculty since 2002, and Academic Director of the Osgoode Professional Development LL.M. Program in Intellectual Property since 2009. A two-time recipient of Osgoode Hall’s Excellence in Teaching Award, Dr. Craig teaches J.D. and graduate courses in Copyright Law, Trademark Law, and International Aspects of Intellectual Property, as well as seminars on Intellectual Property Theory and Copyright in the Digital Era. She researches and publishes in the fields of domestic, comparative and international intellectual property law and policy, with an emphasis on public interest theory and the public domain. Her recently published monograph, Copyright, Communication & Culture: Towards a Relational Theory of Copyright law (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Press, 2011) critically examines the assumptions of possessive individualism embedded in modern copyright law. Her award-winning work has been cited with approval by the Supreme Court of Canada. Dr. Craig holds a First Class Honours Bachelor of Laws (LL.B. Hons.) from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and a Doctorate in Law (S.J.D.) from the University of Toronto, where she was a graduate fellow of the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy.

Following five years of practice in civil litigation specializing in Commercial Litigation and Intellectual Property Law, Professor Mgbeoji enrolled in the graduate program of Dalhousie University where he graduated, summa cum laude, with an LLM in 1999. A recipient of the Governor-General’s Gold Medal for the highest academic standing at the graduate level in Dalhousie University, he undertook his doctoral research in Patent Law, graduating, summa cum laude, in 2001. Throughout his academic career, Professor Mgbeoji has won numerous academic awards, scholarships and fellowships including the Killam Scholarship and the Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft Award. His teaching and research interests are in Patent Law, Trademarks, Copyrights, Trade Secrets, International Law on the Use of Force, International Environmental Law, Biotechnology and Law, Comparative Intellectual Property Law, Indigenous Peoples, and Anthropology. Professor Mgbeoji is the author of two books – Collective Insecurity: The Liberian Crisis, Unilateralism, & Global Order and Patents and Indigenous Peoples – and he is the co-author of Environmental Law in Developing Countries: Selected Issues. Prior to joining Osgoode in July 2003, he taught at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law.

David Vaver is Emeritus Professor of Intellectual Property & Information Technology Law in the University of Oxford, Emeritus Fellow of St Peter’s College, Oxford, and former Director of the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre. He was previously a faculty member at Osgoode (1985-98), UBC (1978-85), and the University of Auckland (1972-78). He rejoined Osgoode in 2009.Professor Vaver has written extensively on national and international intellectual property law and policy. His Canadian writings include Intellectual Property Law: Copyright, Patents, Trade-marks (2nd ed. 2011), Copyright Law (2000), and (as co-editor) Competition Policy and Intellectual Property Law (2009), all published by Irwin Law. He also recently edited a five-volume compilation, Intellectual Property Rights: Critical Concepts in Law (Routledge, 2006).He is an associate member of the Chambers of Michael Silverleaf QC (11 South Square, Gray’s Inn) and was, until recently, a board member of the Intellectual Property Institute (London), and a member of the UK government’s IP Advisory Committee (2001-05). His inaugural Oxford address Intellectual Property Law: The State of the Art appears at (2000) 116 LQR 621.

Michelle brings enthusiasm and determination to help propel IP Osgoode to new levels of success and achieve its objectives in her role as Assistant Director. Prior to joining IP Osgoode, Michelle practiced IP law in Ottawa. She received her MSc. and Hons. BSc. in molecular biology and genetics from the University of Toronto, and her LL.B. from the University of Windsor. Her interests include issues relating to IP transfer and acquisition, IP commercialization, biotechnology and patent law reform.

Rosemary J. Coombe is a Tier One Canada Research Chair in Law, Communication and Cultural Studies at York University in Toronto, where she teaches in the Communications and Culture Joint PhD/MA Programme, and is cross-appointed to the Osgoode Hall Faculty of Law Graduate Programme, and the Graduate Programme in Social and Political Thought. Prior to being awarded one of the country’s first Canada Research Chairs she was Full Professor of Law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. She holds a J.S.D. from Stanford University with a Minor in Anthropology and publishes widely in anthropology and political and legal theory.

Simon FoddenAB (Princeton), LLB (Osgoode) of the Bar of OntarioProfessor Emeritus, Osgoode Hall Law SchoolSimon Fodden taught law at Osgoode Hall Law School for 30 years. He took early retirement in order to devote more time to his interest in information technology, particularly as it affects law and law teaching. He founded the Canadian cooperative law blog Slaw (http://www.slaw.ca) and created The Court blog (http://www.thecourt.ca) for Osgoode.

Joan GilmourBA, LLB (Toronto), JSM, JSD (Stanford), of the Bars of Ontario and British ColumbiaProfessor, Osgoode Hall Law School
Email: jgilmour@osgoode.yorku.caSSRNResearchCurriculum VitaeProfessor Gilmour joined Osgoode Hall Law School’s faculty in 1990, after practising civil litigation and administrative law. She teaches Health Law, Legal Governance of Health Care, Torts and Disability and the Law in the LLB program. She developed and is Director of Osgoode’s part-time LLM program specializing in Health Law, and teaches graduate courses on Professional Governance, and Legal Frameworks of the Healthcare System. She is past Director of Osgoode’s Institute for Feminist Legal Studies, and past Associate and Acting Director of York University’s Centre for Health Studies. Professor Gilmour’s research and publications in health law span some of the most debated issues in contemporary society. She recently completed a major study on the effects of tort law (negligence) on efforts to improve patient safety and reduce medical error. Current research projects include an examination of legal and ethical issues in decision-making about health care for children, and a study of the interrelationship of disability, gender, law and inequality. She has acted as a consultant to Health Canada, and completed a study for the Ontario Law Reform Commission on assisted suicide, euthanasia, and foregoing life-sustaining treatment. She has also completed studies on health care restructuring and privatization, professional regulation of complementary and alternative medicine, and the interrelation of poverty, health and access to justice.

Roxanne MykitiukBA (Alberta), LLB (Toronto), LLM (Columbia), of the Bar of Alberta
Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School
Email: rmykitiuk@osgoode.yorku.caSSRNResearchCurriculum VitaeRoxanne Mykitiuk is an Associate Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School where she teaches in the areas of Law and Disability, Family Law, and Health Law and Bioethics. From 1990-92 she was Senior Legal Researcher for the Canadian Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. In 2002, she was appointed to the Ontario Advisory Committee on Genetics. In 2009, she was Scholar in Residence at the Law Commission of Ontario working on their project on reforming the law as it relates to people with disabilitiesProfessor Mykitiuk is the author or co-author of a number of articles and book chapters investigating legal, ethical and social implications of new reproductive technologies and the new genetics and the legal construction and regulation of embodiment and disability. She holds a number of current research grants funded by SSHRC, CIHR and Genome Canada.

Craig M. ScottBA (McGill), BA (Oxford), LLM (LondonSchool of Economics), LLB (Dalhousie), of the Bar of Ontario
Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School
Email: cscott@osgoode.yorku.caSSRNResearchCurriculum VitaeCraig M. Scott joined Osgoode Hall Law School in 2000 following a term as a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence. Prior to joining Osgoode, he was a member of the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, from 1989 to 2001. From 2001 to 2004, Professor Scott was Associate Dean (Research and Graduate Studies). He is currently Director of the Jack and Mae Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security.Professor Scott was a founding Board member of the International Association of Law Schools (IALS), 2006-2008. He spearheaded the creation in 2006 of the Association of Transnational Law Schools (ATLAS), consisting of Osgoode/York, New York University, London School of Economics, University of Cape Town, University of Melbourne, Universidad de Deusto (Bilbao), and the Université de Montréal. He was the Academic Director of the ATLAS inaugural doctoral-student academy, or Agora (July 7-25, 2008): www.ATLASdoctorate.com.He received the 2008 York University International Award for Outstanding Contribution to Internationalization. Throughout 2008-09, he will make a series of short-term visits to the Universidad de Deusto in Bilbao, Spain, as a European Union Erasmus Mundus Scholar. He is series editor of Hart Monographs on Transnational and International Law (4MB pdf). With Osgoode colleagues, he is an editor of the forthcoming Journal of Transnational Legal Theory.

Rex ShoyamaBASc (Waterloo), JD (Toronto), of the Bar of OntarioRex Shoyama was a Visiting Professor and the Assistant Director of Osgoode’s Intellectual Property Law & Technology program. Prior to joining Osgoode, he was in-house legal counsel for Yahoo! Canada. He has also practised IP law at the law firm of Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh. Rex received his BASc in Systems Design Engineering (with a minor in Cognitive Science) from the University of Waterloo and received his JD from the University of Toronto. His interests include legal issues relating to the Internet, information technologies, and the intersection of law and technology.

Adjunct Faculty

Graduate Student Members

Nicole Aylwin is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Communication and Culture Graduate
Programme at York University. Working under the supervision of Rosemary Coombe, Aylwin’s dissertation explores the relationship between intellectual property, cultural rights and the international conventions and movements surrounding cultural diversity. Her work focuses on mapping the emerging terrain of transnational cultural policy and cultural rights politics. Her other research interests include international law, indigenous rights and development.

Guillaume Laroche is a full time LLM student at Osgoode Hall Law School. A pianist, composer, and music educator/researcher, his substantial background in music informs his analysis of copyright in musical works. Working under the supervision of Prof. Giuseppina D’Agostino, his research asks: what is the legal concept of music? By comparing the law’s conceptions of musical objecthood to those of musical communities, Guillaume aims to delineate the areas of overlap and divergence between the legal concept of music and music itself. This process should flag areas where copyright could understand music differently so as to better correspond with modern musical realities. Other projects during the 2011-2012 academic year include a critical assessment of copyright claims in modern editions of public domain musical scores, an examination of copyright terms’ underlying structures and their consequences, further refinements to a method for the quantification of similarity between two musical works (potentially to be used as a tool in the adjudication of music copyright infringement disputes), multidisciplinary research blending elements of musical psychology with copyright theory (with Prof. Carys Craig), and, last but not least, new compositions for solo clarinet and men’s choir. Originally from Lethbridge, Guillaume holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Alberta, a Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto, and a Master of Arts in Music Theory from McGill University. His other legal research interests include language rights and education law. Email: guillaumelaroche [at] osgoode.yorku.ca

Michael John Long has earned his Honours BA in Philosophy and his Masters in Environmental Studies from York University. He was awarded the Certificate in Practical Ethics by the Centre for Practical Ethics in which he holds membership. The study of ethics has been the through line which connects all of his academic endeavours. As an undergraduate student he focused on theoretical ethics, and as a graduate student he focused on the application of that theory towards the environment. In his MES thesis he examined the moral dilemma of patenting biological resources and the associated traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples. As a full time student in the graduate program at Osgoode Hall Law School he will expand upon his established work in the field of ethics by further exploring intellectual property.

Afroditi Theodoridou did her A-levels in 1995 in Hannover, Germany, with an emphasis on English and French. After graduation from high school, she studied law at the University of Hannover for four and a half years with an emphasis on European Union and Criminal law. She obtained the First State Bar Examination in March 2000. Before starting her two-year practical clerkship she did several internships and attended a course for young lawyers at the University of Bielefeld. During her practical clerkship (2001 – 2003) she worked for the Higher Regional Court Hildesheim, the Public Prosecutor’s Department Hildesheim, the District Administration Hannover, the law firm Wronna & Partner in Hannover and the Canadian law firm Feller Drysdale in Vancouver. Afroditi obtained her Second State Bar Examination in August 2003. She interned with different EU institutions and agencies, such as the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union (Legal Service) in Brussels, the European agency Eurojust (national member of Germany) in The Hague, the European Central Bank (ECB) (Lawyer-Linguists Division) in Frankfurt am Main and the Court of First Instance (Chamber of Judge Papasavvas) in Luxembourg.In 2004, Afroditi continued her legal education at the University of Leicester, UK, where she obtained an LLM in European Law and Integration with a focus on copyright. In addition, in 2006 she passed the exams for lawyers for the further specialisation in labour law. From July 2006 she worked for one and half years for the ECB as a lawyer-linguist and country rapporteur for Germany. Before arriving in Toronto she worked as an adviser for SOKA-BAU Wiesbaden. As of September 2008 she is a PhD student at Osgoode Hall Law School where she will carry out research in the field of copyright.